Eritrea

On
Wednesday, the Swedish newspaper Expressenpublished what it described as
an exclusive interview
with Ali Abdu--Eritrea's long-time information minister, government spokesman, and censor-in-chief--who vanished
from public view in November. The piece confirmed that Ali had gone into exile,
but it shed no light on the whereabouts and well-being of more than two dozen imprisoned
journalists.

An increase in press freedom violations last year created a
surge of need among journalists, driving a record number of assistance cases
for CPJ's Journalist Assistance
Program in 2012. More than three-quarters of the 195 journalists who
received support during the year came from East
Africa and the Middle East and North
Africa, reflecting the challenges--including threats of violence and
imprisonment--of working in these repressive regions. Here are some of the highlights
of our work over the last year:

Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed, government spokesman
and censor-in-chief of the Red Sea nation, has been invisible in the past few
weeks. The total absence of any independent press in Eritrea has allowed the
government to maintain complete silence in the face of mounting questions and
surging Internet rumors of his defection.

It was on November 17 that U.K.-based Eritrean opposition news
website Assena first reported,
citing unnamed sources, that Ali had sought asylum in Canada. Ten days later, Madote, a pro-government site, dismissed
the Assena report and claimed, citing
unnamed witnesses who reported by phone, that Ali was "seen walking in the
capital and discussing with citizens."

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With the launch of CPJ's most recent exile report, I will
have worked exactly three years for our Journalist Assistance
program. More than 500 cases later, I have helped journalists who have gone into hiding or exile to escape
threats; those in need of medicine and other support while in prison, and
journalists injured after violent attacks. The most harrowing accounts of
all, however, come from those crossing from Eritrea into Sudan. And things seem
to be getting worse, not better.

One big reason for the Internet's success is its role as a
universal standard, interoperable across the world. The data packets that leave
your computer in Botswana are the same as those which arrive in Barbados. The
same is increasingly true of modern mobile networks. Standards are converging: You can use your phone, access an app, or send a text, wherever you are.

China didn't make the cut for our 10 most censored countries. While the Chinese
Communist Party's censorship
apparatus is notorious, journalists and Internet users work hard to overcome
the restrictions. Nations like Eritrea and North Korea lack that dynamism.

CPJ's
Journalist Assistance Program supports journalists who cannot be helped by
advocacy alone. In 2011, we assisted 171 journalists worldwide. Almost
a fourth came from countries that made CPJ's Most Censored list. Eight journalists from Eritrea,
five from Syria, six from Cuba, and a whopping 20 from Iran sought our help
after being forced to leave their countries, having suffered the consequences
of defying censorship at home.

Kassahun Yilma left Ethiopia quickly in December 2009. He
didn't have time to save money for the journey, choose a place to go, arrange
housing or a job. He left his wife, his mother, his house and all his friends
behind. Yilma didn't know what lay ahead. He only knew that if he stayed, he
risked becoming a victim of a government-waged campaign against Addis Neger, the newspaper where he
worked as a reporter. "I ran away just
to save my life," says Yilma, "because I was in fear for it."

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The name Solomon Abera will forever be etched in the collective
memory of Eritrea's press corps. On September 18, 2001, as the world focused
its attention on the terrorist attacks on the United States, the government of
Eritrea borrowed Abera's voice to sound the death knell, on state-controlled
airwaves, of the Red Sea nation's independent press. Shortly after Abera read
the announcement, the government rounded up leading independent newspaper
editors and a dozen ruling-party dissidents calling for democratic reform --
all of whom have disappeared in custody.

Ten
years to the day after being handed one of the most chilling news items he
ever read on Dimtsi Hafash radio during his 14 years as a reporter,
presenter, producer, and commentator, Abera reflected on the experience on our blog.

Today, we learned that Solomon Abera, who lived in exile in
Germany after fleeing government censorship and intimidation in 2005, is no
more.

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If you pass by Kronoberg Prison in Sweden's capital,
Stockholm, you will see journalists chained to its gates. They have committed
no crime. For over a week, journalists have taken turns locking themselves up
in front of the prison to
raise awareness of the imprisonment of three colleagues held in the Horn of
Africa.